The Runner’s World Half Marathon & Festival, held in October in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has earned silver certification from the Council for Responsible Sport. In doing so, the Half Marathon & Festival becomes the first large running event in the U.S. to achieve such status in its launch year.

The Council for Responsible Sport sets environmental and social responsibility standards that events can meet for certification. The Runner's World Half is the 46th event to have achieved certification from the organization. There are four levels of certification, ranging from certified to evergreen. Silver is the second-highest level of certification.

“Organizing a first-time running festival, including 5-K, 10-K, half-marathon and kid’s races is a huge challenge in itself,” said Keith Peters, executive director of the Council. “To add the significant challenge of producing the events in a socially and responsible manner, and documenting the effort is truly remarkable. The folks at Runner’s World and LeadDog Marketing should be very proud of their accomplishments.”

"It's important to reduce the environmental impact of road races, bringing runners together to celebrate our sport in a way that is as sustainable as possible," said David Willey, editor-in-chief of Runner's World. "Our staff and our partners hope to become even greener at the next Runner's World Half in October."

The Runner’s World Half scored highly in the areas of promoting healthy lifestyles and inclusion, as well as community involvement and positive community impact.

Among the event's enviromental and social efforts:

• In partnership with Clothes-Pin, a Center City Philadelphia nonprofit, 1,100 articles of clothing and 200 pairs of used running shoes were collected and donated to the Allen Rescue Mission in Bethlehem, PA.

• Leftover food was donated to Victory House of Lehigh Valley, which shared the bounty with Children’s Home of Easton and Holy Infancy Church of Bethlehem.

• Much of the food served at the event was procured locally, including 73 bushels of apples from Pappy’s Orchard in Coopersburg, PA. And all bushels were returned to Pappy’s for reuse.

• 15 members of the cross country team from Dierhuff High School were given running shoes and had their entry fees waived for the 5-K, then volunteered to help with the half-marathon the next day.

• New York Road Runners Mighty Milers program was featured throughout race weekend, with the hope of getting local elementary schools involved in the program. The effort raised $3,480 and two Lehigh Valley schools have already adopted the program, with five others expressing interest.

• Measures were taken to reduce the carbon footprint of runners traveling to the event, including shuttle bus service from New York City, race day shuttles in and around Bethlehem, encouragement of carpooling and the availability of secure bike parking.

This year's event will be October 18-20 in Bethlehem. For more information, visit rwhalf.com.